Currey Road bridge to be closed for four months from Friday

Mahadeo Palav Marg, or the Currey Road bridge, will be shut for traffic for four months beginning Friday to allow construction of a crucial stretch of the monorail connecting Bharat Mata junction and Delisle Road (N M Joshi Marg).

The bridge, which is used by thousands of vehicles and pedestrians each day, will be out of bounds for fourwheelers till April next year. Twowheelers, however, will be allowed partial use of the road, but may face some inconvenience.

The monorail structure, being built by the L&T-Scomi consortium at acost of approximately Rs 2,800 crore, will pass over Lalbaug flyover at Bharat Mata junction and then cross over the Central Railway tracks before joining the Delisle Road stretch. It will have two elevated stations, near Bharat Mata and at Delisle Road.

MMRDA, the nodal agency overlooking the entire project, has sought permission to close the Currey Road bridge for digging and construction of piles and pillars along the stretch. Precast cement girders will then be laid over the Lalbaug flyover once the pillars are cast.

A total of 20 piers and 38 girders are to be laid. Work on casting the piers will be undertaken during the day, while the pre-cast girders will be laid at night between midnight and 6 am. MMRDA spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar said, “Construction will be completed within four months.

First the pillars will be installed and then the girders will be brought in from our casting yard. Work will be carried out round the clock.” “This is the only part of the project in the island city where the monorail will go over an existing flyover.

Once it crosses the Lalbaug flyover, the structure will turn right after Bharat Mata and run parallel to the Currey Road bridge, crossing the railway tracks before reaching N M Joshi Marg,” said an architect overlooking the project.

The Currey Road bridge is a crucial connecting link between Babasaheb Ambedkar Road and Delisle Road, both contributing to the city’s northsouth connectivity. With the bridge being closed for four months, vehicular traffic is expected to use the Elphinstone bridge or the Chinchpokli bridge and the Byculla ‘S’ bridge, adding to the existing traffic on these stretches.

The ongoing project is part of the monorail’s phase-II which travels from Jacob Circle to Wadala. While a majority of the pillars and girders have already been laid, the stations are still to be completed. The monorail’s other phase, which travels between Wadala and Chembur, is almost ready. However, the entire project is running two years behind schedule.